Psychology of 'PSL Season'

PSL, short for Pumpkin Spice Latte. On television, blogs, and other online networks, Americans began being inundated with advertising for this now perennial coffee product in early September. In a typical year, it would be a bit early to count the pumpkins in your pumpkin patch. Farmers who grow it as a crop consider US Labor Day through the end of October the best time to sell the round, orange squash.

A post on The Conversation by Jordan Gaines Lewis, a neuroscience doctoral candidate at Penn State College of Medicine, tackles the question of “Why are we so obsessed with pumpkin spice everything?” In it, Lewis points to further reading on reactance theory, social conformance, and the benefits of nostalgia—all useful bodies of research for anyone marketing a coffee product.